Ionospheric effects of background density and equivalent thickness on signal scintillation

The phase screen theory has been used quite extensively in ionospheric scintillation work. But in thin phase screen model, the electron density and equivalent thickness are crucial parameters because of the nonuniformity of the background ionosphere. Based on International Reference Ionosphere (IRI), the scintillation characteristic is investigated in multiple phase screen model with different density of each screen. The ionospheric effects of electron density and equivalent thickness in thin phase screen model are numerically analyzed by comparison with multiple phase screen model. The results show that the relative error of the scintillation index with inappropriate electron density or equivalent thickness of background ionosphere in thin phase screen model may be higher than 30%.